Barriers, Stumbling Blocks or Open Gates?

I've got a bit of a heavy heart this morning.  I was reading several posts on a FB page of an atheist.  He has a huge following.  It wasn't the mocking of Christians by the atheists that got me, it was the vitriol of the supposed Christians towards atheists and other non-believers.

I truly feel like weeping.

My Jesus is so kind and full of compassion and mercy.  He literally wept over Jerusalem because they would not receive him.  He longs to gather us as a mother hen gathers her chicks under her wings.  But so often, even we, who are his, refuse.

The only places I see Jesus getting angry at people is with the religious people, the money changers, and his disciples.

In Matthew 23:13, Jesus excoriates the religious ones, the scribes and the Pharisees,

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!  For you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men; for you neither go in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in.

If we do not live and act as Jesus in this earth, we do not walk in the kingdom of heaven. Not only that, but we create barriers keeping those who are seeking for truth, who do not yet know how desperately they need him, from seeing him,and entering into the glory of God.

Woe is a huge word! It expresses deep grief and distress.  Jesus felt their stubborn hypocrisy deeply. He totally understood the results of their actions: lost sheep.

When Jesus burned with anger in the Temple, he over-turned the money changers' tables and drove them out of the Temple with a whip.  Once again, it was those who made it hard for others to enter into his Temple, into his Glory, to come and to receive prayer, healing and relationship with God, that stirred him.
(Matthew 21:12-13)

James and John were two of Jesus' devoted followers.  When Jesus sent them ahead of him to a Samaritan village to prepare for his coming, they  villagers would not receive them. James and John wanted to call down fire to consume them, as Elijah the prophet had done.  Jesus sternly rebuked them!

You do not know what manner of spirit you are of. For the Son of Man did not come to destroy men's lives but to save them. Luke 9:55-56

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, let us examine our hearts and our motives daily.  Let us walk as Jesus walked, preaching the Good News, healing the sick, casting out demons, raising the dead.  Let us plant seeds of kindness and goodness and mercy and hope and faith and Love.

I pray not one of us be a stumbling block to anyone.  Let our eyes be filled the Light of Christ. Let us burn with passion for those God loves.  He is still longing for those who are far off.  Let us be an open gate for them to walk, though into Your Kingdom.

Father, forgive me of ever causing one of your precious ones to stumble.  I love you, Lord!